70,000 F1 tickets go on sale from tomorrow
Prices for three-day passes range from $168 to $1,388 for the Sept 26-28 event
By Leonard Lim

AFTER two false starts, the day local motor sports fans have been eagerly anticipating will arrive soon.

Public tickets to the inaugural SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, set to be Formula One's first night race, will go on sale from 9am tomorrow.

A total of 70,000 tickets will be available in this first phase, during which only three-day passes will be sold.

The cheapest of the passes to the Sept 26-28 event will go for $168. They are for the walkabout passes, which give fans access to most areas of the Marina Bay street circuit and stretches around the Singapore Flyer and Esplanade Park. There are 15,000 of these tickets.

The other 55,000 will be grandstand tickets, which start from $248 for an upper tier seat at the Marina Bay floating platform.

The priciest of the grandstand tickets will set fans back by $1,388 for a seat at either the premier pit or the Turns Grandstand, located along and after the start/finish straight respectively.

These seats will offer fans an unrivalled view of this straight and the first turn, likely to be the scene of spectacular overtaking manoeuvres by Lewis Hamilton and Co.

The ticket prices are comparable to that of other F1 races around the world. Tickets for the Monaco street race cost between $506 and $1,694. Those offered for the Sepang Malaysian Grand Prix cost between $66 and $897.

Fans welcomed yesterday's announcement, after organisers twice pushed back public sales - from last December to last month, and then to after Chinese New Year.

Generally, they felt the prices were reasonable.

Said banker Goh Chonghan: 'The prices, though high, seem reasonable given that it's the first F1 night race.

'But I may not pay as much in future years. It depends on how good the experience is this year.'

It is believed that the delay came about as the organisers were awaiting the green light for additional grandstands.

It turned out to be a worthwhile wait.

Three more grandstands have been added since the last announcement in November.

They are at the areas adjacent to One Raffles Link along Nicoll Highway, along Raffles Avenue just before the floating pontoon, and along the Marina Waterfront next to the pontoon.

Tickets to two Padang grandstands have not been released yet, as negotiations with Singapore Recreation Club and Singapore Cricket Club to lease the site are ongoing. It is understood that the parties are close to reaching a resolution.

All these mean that together with the 15,000 corporate hospitality tickets, a total of 85,000 spectators will be able to be part of the history-making event.

Whether or not one-day passes would go on sale would depend on whether the three-day passes sell out. If F1 ticket prices abroad are an indication, one-day passes on race day typically cost as high as 60 to 70 per cent of a three-day pass.

Meanwhile, all is being done to see if more fans can be fitted in.

A Singapore Grand Prix spokesman said: 'We're still looking to see if we can find additional spaces and increase the number of tickets, but at the moment that's all we have.'